3. Boatbuilding « Chine bLog

Need some advice - managing a wide board

Posted on February 22nd, 2010

Friends, I need a bit of quick advice. I bought a nice Spanish Cedar board for the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe, but it is about 10″ wide and seems like it is cleaned-up flitch-sawn – the grain runs in a nice wide arc through it. I have two pieces that will come out of it that are 9″ and 9 1/2″ wide. Should I split it length-wise and re-glue so that the grain runs against itself a bit (i.e., in a subtle s-curve)? Or, given it is kiln-dried, should I just let it be because it won’t cup much more. I am thinking the former, but wanted to see if anyone could comment. Many thanks,

The skin-on-frame outrigger comes along, as best it can, indoors

Posted on February 18th, 2010

I believe I have mentioned that I work in sub-optimal conditions for a boat-builder, even one focusing on small craft. Our house is modest and my workshop is in the basement, overrun by stuff in storage. I count on being able to work outside, but this gloriously snowy winter (yes, I said “gloriously” – snow is fun too) has wiped that out. I plus along in the space I have, and thus you see pieces below laid out across living space.

So here are some signs of progress, albeit slow. As with the keel of the ama, I cut the first few feet and relaminated it to give it rocker. Here is that task, in progress.

Keel rocker

I took a whack at laminating one of the frames. I have subsequently decided to junk this one. There were two issues. First, I am still figuring out my new bandsaw, and the strips were pretty lumpy (even after some planing). They didn’t lay together well. Compounding this, I also messed up the glue up and I wasn’t confident in the piece’s strength. Lots of learning there. Too many strips, too short working time, and too little glue (using Titebond III).

Aft frame

I decided to use the frame to further test and cut out some of the mortises. The keel scarf is not yet glued, but I was able to mock things up by means of some clamps: one frame, the full keel, and two stems. Great to see.

Frame on keel, looking aft

Here’s the same set-up looking forward (excuse the living room). You can see the bow stem is cocked to starboard. Seems there is a little twist in the keel. I have to see if I can pull it straight with the gunwales.

Aft frame on keel, looking forward

Catching up with the traditional boat blogosphere - recent stuff from some peers

Posted on January 22nd, 2010

I have so engaged in designing and building that I haven’t been on the computer as much in the PMs. I have clearly been missing out on what some of our traditional boat peeps have been putting up. In case you missed it directly, here is some stuff to check out:

Indigenous Boats
Bob over at Indigenous Boats always has great stuff. No falling off as we checked in.

The Hawaiian Double Canoe Hokule’a – Fantastic boat. I saw it in Hawaii on my honeymoon, quite by chance.
The Unusual Beothuk Canoe – These are unusual, and I confess I have trouble loving them. Great post on them and their history, though, and definitely not a design to forget.
Sabanis – Canoes or “Boats”? – Interesting Okinawan boat here.
Great Tlingit Dugout Canoe – Great boat here.
Canadian Canoe Museum – Awe Inspiring – One word: wow.

70.8
Tom at 70.8 has a few really nice posts: » Continue reading Catching up with the traditional boat blogosphere – recent stuff from some peers »

After a drawing-board and holiday hiatus, we are making sawdust again on the skin-on-frame outrigger project

Posted on January 19th, 2010

So we went back to the drawing board for a bit on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe project, as we noted last month. It was a productive venture – we made some improvements, got a lot of problems solved, and got some useful planning in. We confess, though, that we were eager to get back into the building phase, and around the holidays, we were finally able to do so. First step: stems.

I decided to do sawn stems, which I think has worked out well. I got the components glued up and then waited for my Christmas present to come in: a band saw. To be clear, I barely have room for such a toy, but gosh – is it wonderful! I put it through its paces cutting the shape of the stems and then cutting the bevel on them. It will literally make this project possible. I also splurged on a new dust-collection system: $19.00 on a small shop-vac form Target. Oh yeah, we are gettin’ faaannnn-cy.

Stems - bow and stern So here are the results, minus sanding and some seam-filling. I am pretty happy with the results and am getting psyched to pull the keel together. I have the scarf cut and am ready to put the rocker in next. I’m getting giddy…

Design details on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe

Posted on December 23rd, 2009

One of the aspects to designing and building my own boat is the noodling on very specific problems – how would X work, how do I need to construct Y, how big does Z need to be, etc. To think through these issues I have done some mini-lofting – full-sized drawings of pieces of the frame. I thought I’d share some of these drawings so you can see what is difficult to tell in my lousy reproductions.

I had a rough idea of how to do the inwale / outwale construction from my reading, but I had to think through a number of details when it came to the two laminated frames that are the key structural elements amidships.

Somewhat less complicated, but still worth some thought, was » Continue reading Design details on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe »

Design tweaks getting there on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe

Posted on December 19th, 2009

It was thrilling to hear an inquiry from our friend Bob Holtzman over at Indigenous Boats on the status of the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe project. Our last update showed off a completed ama frame, and, truthfully, for various reasons, there hasn’t been any building progress since then.

What I have done is go back to the drawing board to make a few design adjustments based on earlier feedback. I nudged the ama forward and adjusted the internal layout a bit accordingly. I also adjusted the sheer and keel lines a bit to ease construction. The biggest difference, though, is that the split rig is gone in favor of a single lanteen sail. I couldn’t make balance work right otherwise. I am eager to try the rig and I think it fits well – it gives it more of a Southwest Indian Ocean flavor (e.g., Madagascar).

Construction hasn’t changed much, but I have figured out a few more details.

The people are speaking: time to publish Wayfarer Dinghy plans

Posted on December 15th, 2009

We realized that we have been running this blog for over four years now. This is the second iteration of it, as of last Winter, so our analytics are incomplete. It is the case for the last several months, however, – and we promise that it has basically always been the case – that one of our first posts, on the Wayfarer Dinghy, is the most popular on the whole blog. Specifically, we called out the poor decision on the part of designer Ian Proctor’s descendants and the various Wayfarer Dinghy associations to not publish plans for the Wayfarer so they could be built at home.

We find it interesting that this post has had such legs and dare to think that it might mean that we are not alone in searching for the plans. Want more evidence, over the same period (3/14/09 to 12/14/09), one of the top search terms that brought visitors here was “wayfarer dinghy plans.” We think there is unmet desire here and it is time to publish the plans. Again, we are all for fair one-design racing, and we also think that issues raised by home-built boats in this context could be mitigated (e.g., validation by the association at the owner’s expense). We just don’t find the reasons for holding back compelling.

Maine boatbuilding + Polynesian surfing = wow: Grain Surfboards

Posted on October 20th, 2009

We have run into Grain Surfboards before. They are a York, ME-based shop that builds – and teaches the building of – custom wooden surfboards. Makes you go “hmmm”, eh? Surf shop… in Maine… and wooden? Well, its true, and the results are impressive (check out their Grain Gallery) – remember that boards were originally solid wood.

The Grain boards use a “rail” internal structure (a single longitudinal piece with spaced frames) and then effectively strip-build the board on this frame (though they don’t follow the exact approach one would use for a kayak or canoe – the deck strips are much wider). We don’t surf here at Chine bLog – perhaps we should – but I love that these guys are running this shop and teaching others along the way.

I was reminded of Grain again with a nice article in the latest Outside Magazine. One of their writers joined a class and wrote about the experience. He had done no prior building and portrayed himself as fairly un-handy in general, but he had the boatbuilder’s eureka moment at the end. Its a good read.

Another skin-on-frame resource: The Berkshire Boat Building School

Posted on October 14th, 2009

Just a quick note to call out another skin-on-frame resource: The Berkshire Boat Building School. They seem to build a couple nice-looking canoes and rowing boats and offer kits and classes. Worth checking out further.

A nice proverb for a Sunday morning

Posted on October 11th, 2009

I found this Swahili proverb in a somewhat interesting piece on Zanzibar in the Washington Post’s Sunday travel section.

Ukiona vyaelea vimeundwa

[If you see vessels afloat, remember they have been built]

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